Reading Rocks

I'm hoping you've enjoyed my little Reading Rocks series so far. I will be continuing these posts and am aiming to get back into a regular posting schedule. Here is the next installment!

As a child I had a particular fascination with the adventures of a little bear from deepest, darkest Peru, who wears a duffel coat, is named after a London train station and has a well-known penchant for marmalade sandwiches.

You may have already guessed by now that I am of course referring to Paddington Bear!


I loved reading about his (mis)adventures and all the daft scrapes the silly old loveable bear got himself into, it certainly made for an entertaining read. Watch this episode of the popular kids TV series about the origins of the bear's name :) There's even a Paddington Bear wiki!

All images via Google images

You also can find the official Paddington Bear website at www.paddingtonbear.com. It's got some fun things for kids to do such as Paddington's Party Game, colouring in pages and an interactive map where you can add the location of your very own Paddington Bear.

There is currently an exhibition entitled "The Life & Times of Paddington Bear" on at the Museum of Reading until Sunday the 4th of July. It's a celebration of the famous bear and his creator, Michael Bond. Details here and here.

Daydream Hunting

I thought I'd take the time today to share some recent finds that I thought were rather enchanting.

Image: Papier Mache Magazine

Papier Mache Magazine - this is an utterly adorable online mag, dreamed up in Sydney, Australia. It has a light and airy aesthetic, and features toys, kids clothing, whimsical art and other wonderful things.

Image: Pieni

Pieni - a pretty little bilingual online shop, full of carefully selected things lovingly handmade in France. Also check out the blog.

Image: The Little Red Door

The Little Red Door - one of my favourite etsy shops! Cute little houses of clay and beautiful coloured glazes, handmade in Canada.

DIY Mobile

My other half recently found out he was to become an uncle, so naturally we wanted to give something cool to the proud new parents. The idea of a (home made) baby mobile came up, which we both thought was a great idea, especially as we didn't know if the baby was going to be a boy or girl just yet.

When I couldn't find a tutorial for the kind of mobile I had in mind (i.e. one with a motor, so it spins), we resorted to outside-the-box thinking. May it be noted that my other half is rather good at this kind of thing! Hence the idea to buy a pre-existing design and modify it.

This proved to be the easiest way to proceed, so we got a simple, inexpensive one which I could add my own toy shapes to in place of the ones the mobile came with. One of the benefits of this approach was that it provided a stable framework from which to start, and the clip/arm for attaching to the baby's cot. The last thing I wanted was for it to end up looking like a botched DIY attempt made with coathangers!

Well, it has now been gifted so I can share it with you :) Here is a little clip of it in action:



P.S. Do excuse the whirring...apparently my camera always does this!